Portable wireless devices such as personal digital assistant (PDA) devices and portable wireless handsets, e.g., cell phones, enjoy widespread popularity. In particular, the portable, hand-held characteristics of these devices provide users with access to information and communication outlets in ways that were never before available. To ensure the continued popularity of portable wireless devices, attempts are being made to further expand the flexibility and capabilities of these portable wireless devices and to further enhance the services available to users of portable wireless devices. For example, portable wireless devices capable of accessing the Internet are available and Internet service providers that provide Internet access to portable wireless device users are becoming increasingly more common.
Unfortunately, the limited memory, display and bandwidth capabilities of portable wireless devices restrict the Internet content readily available to a portable wireless device user. Specifically, the Internet content available to the portable wireless device user is typically presented in a bare bones format so that portable wireless device capabilities are conserved. As a result, users will typically favor the richer Internet content available through traditional Internet connections such as workstations and computers unless circumstances such as travel prevent access to such computers. Thus, PDA devices and wireless handsets are typically used either to access highly basic content or to access content when circumstances prevent the user from accessing content from another device.
Printing offers the opportunity for a user to view rich content, and is often favored over viewing content through a full web browser or other application on a personal computer or work station. Unfortunately, the portable wireless devices, having limited capabilities, lack convenient printing mechanisms. Moreover, connecting a portable wireless device to a printer via a wired connection tends to defeat the purpose of having a portable wireless device.
One answer to these concerns is found in efforts to have the portable wireless devices communicate with peripherals and other devices through wireless communications. The Bluetooth RF communication format is. directed toward expanding the utility of portable wireless devices by providing a short range, typically about ten meters, communication channel for communications between portable wireless devices and other Bluetooth capable devices. However, standing alone, the communication channel offers little to solve the print content dilemma faced by users of portable wireless devices. Specifically, due to memory and bandwidth limitations portable wireless devices are relatively poor portals to push content from or through to a printer, even with the convenience of a Bluetooth or other similar wireless communication capability.